Guilt
by WickedForGood13
Summary: Kurt is now at Dalton Academy, yet Blaine is ignoring him. Why? Read to find out...


It was official—Kurt was now a student at Dalton Academy.

Burt dropped him off and set up a time to pick him up on Friday afternoon.

As his dad pulled away, Kurt saw Blaine watching him with a frown on his face.

Smiling timidly, Kurt began walking towards him, but Blaine turned and began to walk away.

Stunned, Kurt continued to make his way inside, wondering what would make Blaine go out of his way to ignore him.

He found all his classes and survived until lunchtime, when he went to his room and collapsed face-first onto his bed. He let out a choked sob, releasing all of his pent-up emotions.

Kurt had seen Blaine in the hallway between classes, yet he was still ignoring him. Kurt was hurt. He thought that Dalton students were above such petty techniques as the silent treatment. He would have almost preferred Blaine to partake in slushying him or shoving him into lockers. At least then Blaine would have been showing him some attention. Yet Blaine was a gentleman and would never act the way the Neanderthals at McKinley had acted.

Kurt cried until his tear ducts ran dry.

Kurt got up and realized that he was stiff and sore from lying on his bed at an odd angle. He got up and made his way over to the sink in the corner of his room. He splashed some water on his face, hoping that would be enough to disguise the fact that he had been crying. He then made his way to his only class after lunch—history.

Blaine saw Kurt making his way to class and did a double take. Kurt's eyes were red and puffy, as though he'd been crying. Blaine would hunt down whoever made Kurt cry and cripple them.

Blaine currently had a free period, so he waited for Kurt outside his class.

Kurt sat in history, bored out of his mind. History was the one class at Dalton that was not advanced enough to challenge Kurt. When class was finally dismissed, he joined the throng of students streaming from the room and almost missed Blaine, who was leaning against the wall opposite the door.

Blaine spied Kurt and closed in, grabbing his wrist and dragging him away from the crowd. They made their way to a deserted classroom before Blaine released Kurt.

Blaine turned Kurt to face him, cautiously raising his hand to stroke Kurt's cheek and passing over Kurt's puffy eyes.

"You've been crying," said Blaine.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," came Kurt's quick reply. "Since when do you care? You've been ignoring me all day."

"What made you cry?" asked Blaine, concerned for his friend.

"Not something. Someone," Kurt corrected Blaine.

"Alright. Who made you cry?"

"Sure you want to know?" asked Kurt, wondering why Blaine was suddenly interested.

Blaine nodded wordlessly.

"You," Kurt whispered.

"Me?" Blaine's voice came out a whisper too.

"Yes, you."

"Why me?"

"Because, genius, you've been ignoring me. My dad drops me off and I see you watching me, only you disappear right as I begin to approach you. I see you in the hallways and you pretend that I'm not there. I'd rather you throw a slushie in my face or shove me into lockers than give me the silent treatment. I know you must be disappointed in me 'cause I ran away—"

"Hold on, Kurt," said Blaine, interrupting Kurt's rant. "You think I'm disappointed in you?"

"Well, aren't you? After all, I ran away. I didn't stand and fight my bullies, the way you'd have me do."

"Kurt—oh god! This is all my fault. I'm not disappointed in you. I could never be disappointed in you. You were smart to get out when you did. A death threat should always be taken seriously."

Kurt started at the mention of death threats.

Blaine continued, "Yes, Kurt. I know that Karofsky threatened you. When were you planning on telling me that he threatened your life?"

"Umm…never?" came Kurt's response, accompanied by a nervous chuckle.

Blaine advanced on Kurt, backing him up into the nearest desk. "You are more precious to me than anything I may own or desire. Do not think for one minute that you aren't worth the cost of a drive to Lima, or even the cost of my own life. There is so much that I'd be willing to do for you, Kurt. And I'll be damned before Karofsky lays so much as a finger on you or touches a hair on your head."

Kurt was overwhelmed. He began to shake out of fear of Blaine and what he might do. Blaine noticed this and backed away, hands up in surrender, similar to when Karofsky had him pinned against the chain link fence.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Kurt. I just want to be sure that you understand how important your safety is to me."

Kurt nodded, still afraid. Blaine backed even further away, to the farthest side of the classroom.

"Now," he said. "To finish our discussion: I was ignoring you because I thought you'd never want to see me again. If I hadn't encouraged you to stand up to Karofsky, you'd never have followed him into the locker room and he would never have kissed you and the bullying would never have escalated as it did and you wouldn't have been forced to come to Dalton and leave behind your Glee club and—"

Now Kurt was the one to interrupt Blaine's rambling.

"And that's bad because? Blaine, we're here at Dalton—together. Isn't that what we both wanted? Now we don't have to constantly drive to see each other. We can just walk down the hall and open a door."

"But it's my fault," whispered Blaine, suddenly broken and dropping his confident façade. "It's my fault that the bullying escalated. If I hadn't encouraged you to stand up to Karofsky—"

"Blaine, I'm going to stop you right there. The harassment would have escalated whether you encouraged me to fight back or not. Karofsky's always had it out for me, whether it was with an extra slushie facial or dumpster dive. He's always been out to get me. Now, thanks to you, I know why."

"You shouldn't be thanking me. You should be cursing the very air I breathe. Thanks to me, you no longer feel safe at McKinley."

"I hadn't been feeling safe at McKinley for a while, Blaine. You had nothing to do with it."

Kurt decided it was time to reveal how truly damaged he was. He took off the Dalton blazer and began to unbutton his shirt.

"What are you doing?" asked Blaine in amazement.

"You'll see," said Kurt, mysteriously.

Kurt finally got the shirt off and stood facing Blaine.

Blaine could only stare.

Kurt's chest was covered in bruises that ranged from purple to a sickly shade of green. Then Kurt turned around and revealed more bruises covering his back. In addition, there were long scars covering his shoulder blades.

"What happened?" was all Blaine could choke out.

"The result of numerous encounters with lockers and dumpsters. Many of these encounters, I may add, having occurred since my freshman year of high school, long before I ever knew you."

Blaine cautiously approached Kurt, fearful of frightening him, as he had earlier.

"These marks on your shoulders—?" Blaine began.

"When the Neanderthals would throw me in the dumpsters, they weren't mindful of how I landed. So, I ended up hitting the sharp sides of the dumpster and scraping my shoulders. And the bruises are from being shoved into lockers, falling to the ground, and the occasional beating."

Kurt turned around at the sound of a body hitting the floor. It was Blaine. He'd crumpled to the ground in a heap and was sobbing uncontrollably.

Kurt sank down next to him, pulling Blaine's head into his lap and running his fingers through Blaine's hair in an effort to sooth him.

Once Blaine's cries had quieted, he asked Kurt, "How can you speak so calmly about your abuse? It's horrific, what you've gone through. Yet you talk as though it's nothing."

"I've had to develop a tough outer shell in order to protect myself. I've yet to let anyone in, but I'm willing to make an exception with you."

Blaine's head shot up at this. As he met Kurt's gaze, he saw the walls that Kurt had built come tumbling down.

Ever so slowly, Blaine raised himself so that he was kneeling in front of Kurt. As he leaned closer, his eyes asked Kurt if his actions were okay. Kurt responded by moving his head in the opposite direction of Blaine and closing his eyes.

When their lips met, both boys swore that sparks flew. It was as if each had found their other half, their missing puzzle piece.

The kiss was short and sweet, yet full of potential.

When they pulled apart, they left their foreheads touching.

Blaine remained on his knees, while Kurt continued to sit cross-legged.

"Was that okay?" asked Blaine, nervously. Although Kurt had responded, Blaine still feared that he'd moved too fast and that Kurt wasn't ready for a relationship.

"It was perfect," Kurt whispered.

Blaine ran his hands across Kurt's body, mindful of the bruises. He felt Kurt shiver as he touched him. He decided to turn Kurt around and began to kiss each individual scar that marred Kurt's shoulders. Kurt froze in shock at the evident adoration in Blaine's actions.

"Kurt," Blaine whispered, as he finished his attempt at kissing away the pain. "I love you."

Kurt's breath hitched in his throat. Of course, he loved Blaine. But he was still incredulous that Blaine would feel the same way, let alone that he would be the first to share his feelings aloud.

"Kurt, say something. You're scaring me," said Blaine, again afraid that he'd moved too fast.

"Oh, Blaine. I love you too. So much."

"Thank goodness," said Blaine. "I was afraid that I was moving too fast."

"You could never move fast enough for me, Blaine," said Kurt, sincerely.

"Well, in that case…," said Blaine, letting his voice trail off and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Kurt blanched.

"I'm kidding," Blaine was quick to reassure Kurt. "For the moment, anyway."

Kurt smiled shyly at him.

"But I would like to ask you something."

Kurt nodded for him to go ahead.

Blaine took Kurt's hands in his and looked him in the eye. "Kurt Hummel, will you do me the honor of being my boyfriend?"

Without hesitating, Kurt answered, "Yes. Oh god, yes. A thousand times yes. I love you so much."

Kurt threw his arms around Blaine and hugged him tight.

"I never thought I would get to experience this," Kurt added. "At least in high school. To be able to walk down the halls and hold hands, unafraid. To dance and kiss and sing and do whatever we want. I never thought love would happen to me. I can't believe how happy I am."

"Well, you should start believing it, 'cause I intend to be making you happy for a long time to come."

The two teens shared another kiss, showing a bit more passion now that they were an official couple.

"Kurt," Blaine said, breaking the kiss. "I'd like to take you to my room and rub some lotion on your bruises."

"I don't want anyone else to know," Kurt said, hurriedly.

"Don't worry. It'll be our little secret."

"Thank you," said Kurt.

"Come on, new kid," said Blaine, jokingly. As he stood up, he offered Kurt his hand and helped him to his feet. He offered Kurt the shirt he had discarded. When Kurt was once more wearing Dalton's standard attire, Blaine picked up the blazer and helped Kurt into it.

Now that Kurt had let Blaine into his protective bubble, Blaine noticed that Kurt seemed to be in a lot more pain, as he winced slightly and hissed at having to move his arms to put on the blazer.

"Have you always been in this much pain?" asked Blaine, concerned for his boyfriend.

"Yeah. I've just learned to hide it."

"You don't have to hide anymore, Kurt," said Blaine seriously, referring to not only his bruises, but his feelings as well.

"I know," said Kurt simply, turning to face his boyfriend and initiating another kiss.

Tongues began to battle for dominance. Finally, the couple surfaced for air, as breathing had once more become a priority.

"You're good," said Blaine to Kurt.

"Why, thank you. You aren't bad yourself."

They smiled at each other, before joining hands and exiting the room.

With a little help from Blaine, Kurt was on his way to healing. And the guilt each had had, faded away and allowed for their "Teenage Dream" to become a reality.


End file.
